Written by Josh McQueen, VP of Marketing and Product at Passare

As VP of Marketing and Product, one of my biggest responsibilities is guiding our product and development roadmap (the plan for what we build in Passare) and leading the teams that bring those ideas to life.

When people learn this, I'm often flooded with questions, like:
“When are you going to build [X feature]?”
“Why haven’t you released [Z feature] yet?”

Every now and then, I can say, “We’re actually working on that now!”

But more often, I have to say, “We have no immediate plans to work on that.”

I get it, waiting is frustrating. If we could build every great idea at once, we would! But here’s the exciting part: every decision we make is centered around creating the most value for funeral homes.

That’s why we’re so intentional about our process to determine what our team works on.

So, let’s pull back the curtain on how we build our roadmap and decide what’s next.

How we structure our teams

Before we talk about decisions, let’s talk about structure.

To start, I don’t decide the roadmap alone. Our management team, consisting of leaders from Passare Sales, Marketing, Support, Implementation, and Development, meets weekly to make these decisions. This mix of perspectives ensures we consider every angle and variable.

We use a modified version of John Doerr’s Objective & Key Results (OKR) framework to group related projects into strategic themes. Why? Because cherry-picking random features doesn’t move the needle. Focusing on one area for a dedicated time creates real, noticeable value.

Our platform is divided into “components,” or different products and technologies. Each component has its own squad: a cross-functional team of Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers, Product Designers, Developers, and Quality Assurance (QA) analysts. Squads work autonomously and keep core areas moving forward.

For example, our mobile app has its own squad, so it always gets the attention it deserves.

Once our teams are established and aligned, they dive into the big question: What do we build next?

How we make decisions

Steve Jobs said it best:

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

As I mentioned earlier, the most frustrating part of my job is telling a customer that we’re not currently working on their idea. If it weren’t for limited time and resources, we would do it all!

We can’t do everything at once, so we choose carefully. Here’s how. 👇

#1. We listen to our customers

Listening to our customers' needs and finding solutions that help them is why we do what we do. Your feedback drives us.

We gather ideas through our idea portal, feature surveys, customer testimonial calls, and our customer advisory board (which meets every other month).

And lastly, we hear feedback from our Support team, who interacts with our customers daily and advocates for them just as often.

#2. We evaluate business needs 

Without overcomplicating things, business needs are relatively simple: grow revenue and cut costs. Obviously, making customers happy is the best way to increase revenue in the long term. We also look at how to achieve this in the short term.

Ultimately, by doing this, we can continue to reinvest in Passare and increase the value we deliver to our customers.

#3. We have meaningful conversations

Our roadmap isn’t rigid, it’s a living plan. We use data, but decisions aren’t pure science and numbers. They’re informed by debate and agreement among leaders across the business.

Unlike many companies, we don’t set fixed plans for the next 5 to 10 years. We view our roadmap as a compass or a GPS. While we know the destination that we want to reach, there are industry, competitive, and societal factors that may cause us to change that plan.

Think of it like Google Maps. You know the destination, but if there’s construction or a wreck up ahead, you take a different route. Industry changes, competition, and customer needs can shift our path, and that’s okay and expected.

Why it matters

Our roadmap reflects our commitment to you. We believe in being transparent about how we make decisions and what’s coming next. There’s no black veil, no secret list of features we pick at random.

Every choice is intentional and rooted in creating the most value for funeral homes.

By sharing our process, we want you to feel confident that your feedback matters and that we’re always listening to your suggestions. When you see a new feature in Passare, you’ll know it wasn’t chosen on a whim. You’ll know it was prioritized through thoughtful conversations, customer input, and strategic planning.

Transparency builds trust, and trust is what we value most. That’s why we’re inviting you to see not just what we’re building, but why we’re building it.